Many electrical connection blocks, and specifically telecommunications terminal blocks, require the stripping of the wire and the bending of the wire in a C-shape to be positioned on a terminal post either between washers or between a nut and the terminal base. With limited amounts of room this could be difficult work in warm weather and uncomfortable for the crafts person in cold weather. The process is time consuming and corrosion could affect the terminal and the connection.
To combat these problems, terminals called insulation displacement terminals were developed. However, these terminals had a tendency to cause a point of weakness where the knife like blades cut through the insulation. Subsequent vibration could weaken the terminal to wire connection, or overtightening might completely sever the wire. A telecommunications terminal block with a positive stopping action on a shoulder of the terminal post was disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 07/270,411 filed Nov. 7, 1988 and also the previously mentioned applications. While overcoming many of the problems of prior art standard post and nut terminals or insulation displacement terminals, the terminal required highly refined tolerances within the cap/post configuration. The test port through the top of the cap provided limited room for the test probe to form an electrical connection. In addition, having a device which separated the test port and cap functions would provide beneficial aspects and advantages readily apparent to the customer. It would also be desirable to have a cap which was captured by the block without the excessive need of a long terminal post requiring a plurality of turns for engagement and disengagement with a further nonthreaded section to avoid liftoff.
It would also be desirable to have a terminal block permitting the use of automated connections between the stub wires and the terminal post apart from the labor intensive wiring of the terminal posts. Thus, it would be desirable to have a process which permitted the welding of the stub wire to the base of the terminal in an organized fashion. Additionally, it would be desirable to have a means of forming the electrical contact to the wire while avoiding the stringent requirements of close tolerance machining at the terminal post/cap interface.